Wounded
by RenegadeMonkey
Summary: After Setsuna is shot by Al Saachez, his comrades come to his aid. One-shot.


Setsuna started to get light-headed. He had lost too much blood already, but he had to get to the Ptolemaios. He had to know everyone was okay. As he neared the African Tower he could see another mobile suit ahead of him. "That can't be. It looks like a flag." As he approached a voice was heard over the open channel. "Well young man, I knew you would show." Setsuna knew that voice and as they clashed he instantly recognized the fighting style. "You! I don't have time to deal with you right now." As they slammed into each other Setsuna felt his wound open. He bit down hard on the pain, he had to make it through this, he had to change. The next few moments drifted by with Setsuna only half aware of what was going on, he knew he engaged Transam and that the fight was not going well for him. Bracing for another hit another voice came over his coms, this time on the secure channel. "SETSUNA!" It was a hail from Ptolemaios. The two mobile suits separated as a laser whipped in between them. The modified flag turned and left realizing that he was outnumbered. Setsuna turned the 00 Raiser towards the oncoming Gundams. "Looks like you are alive after all," voiced Lockon. Setsuna felt the relief wash over him as he saw his comrades. "Guys… are you all okay?" He asked as exhaustion took the place of relief and he lost consciousness as his vision started to blur.

Tieria leaned forward in his cockpit, something wasn't right. Setsuna did not sound so good, "Setsuna is everything alright?" Tieria felt his stomach drop as the coms went silent and the 00 Raiser started to descend. "SETSUNA!" Lockon yelled over the coms as he and Halleluiah moved their gundams in to keep the Raiser from falling. There was no reply. Tieria brought up a visual link into the cockpit and was mortified by what he saw. Setsuna was slumped forward and there was blood on the flight seat behind him. Without a word the three Gundams made their way back to the Ptolemaios with Setsuna in tow. Using the cargo bay entrance they were able to carry the Raiser and set it on its platform. The others staged their Gundams and the pilots quickly jumped out. All running to the "00." Lockon was at the cockpit first yelling at a frazzled Feldt to override the controls on the Raiser's cockpit. As it opened an unconscious Setsuna was revealed. Lockon climbed in behind him unsure of where the source of the blood was. Halleluiah leaned in to undo the straps keeping the pilot in. Setsuna gave a pained groan as one t=of the straps brushed against the wound on his shoulder. Lockon removed Setsuna's helmet and let his head fall back against his chest. "Setsuna, buddy, can you hear me?" Setsuna's eyes opened slowly. Lockon noticed the dark circles under them and tried not to let his worry show. Tieria piped up from behind Halleluiah, "We need to get him to the medical bay." Setsuna made to sit up, but was overcome with pain. He hissed through his teeth as he tried to move away from the hands that were about to touch him. Halleluiah's breath caught as he watched the young pilot try and move away from helping hands. He knew Setsuna how Setsuna reacted to human contact, but reached down and scooped his arms beneath Setsuna's knees as Lockon wrapped his arms around his thin chest. The young pilot cried out and lost consciousness as they gently lifted him from the cockpit. Lockon marveled at how light he was. As they slowly lowered him down to the floor the doors leading into the ship burst open with Ian and Feldt pushing in a wheeled stretcher with Sanji and Marie following close behind. As soon as Feldt caught sight of Setsuna she burst into tears. "That's not helping." Demanded Halleluiah as he helped Sanji, Tieria, and Lockon gently position Setsuna on the stretcher. Everyone followed as Ian pushed the stretcher through the haul of the large ship to the medical bay. Once in the bay Feldt was ushered away by Marie. The others watched as Lockon and Ian began removing Setsuna's flight suit. As they pulled away the blood soaked suit Lockon noticed the once white bandages wrapping around the boy's lean shoulder and chest. "He must have gotten help. How long has he been like this?" Ian looked up and replied, "No way to know for sure until we get these off and assess the damage." As they slowly unraveled the thin fabric Lockon took notice of the many scars that seem to all but cover what should be the smooth, tan skin of someone as young as Setsuna. He assured himself he would try to find out more about them as soon as Setsuna woke up. Ian gave a low whistle as the last of the bandages were removed. What was left was a very large wound in the young man's shoulder. "It looks like whoever helped him tried to stitch it up, but he must have reopened it while fighting. Lets clean him up and get him in the cell regenerator." Lockon gave a curt nod and turned to get some antiseptic and gauze. Outside the bay Halleluiah, Tieria and Sanji watched as the bandages were removed. As soon as Tieria saw the wound he turned away muttering something about giving a report to Sumeragi and left. The others just watched as their youngest member had his wound cleaned wincing every time he let out a pained noise. Up on the command deck Ms. Sumeragi was discussing with Lasse how long it would take to reach the tower without using Transam and if that would still get them there in time while giving Setsuna time to rest. Thinking that he had lost consciousness do to exhaustion since he had been alone with 00 Raiser for almost two weeks. They turned from their conversation at the sound of the door opening behind them. Sumeragi's heart skipped a beat as she saw Tieria with a large dark stain on his chest. At her expression Tieria's eyes drifted down to his chest, he hadn't noticed that he had gotten Setsuna's blood on him when he helped to lift him on to the stretcher. His eyes met Ms. Sumeragi's as hers began to water. "Setsuna was injured, but he will be fine with a few days of cell regeneration." Summeragi shook her head to clear her thoughts and stood motionless as Tieria gave his report. As he turned to leave she looked over to Lasse and told him to start heading towards the Tower at full speed. She then left the Command deck and headed towards the medical bay. She quickened her pace as she passed by a weeping Feldt with Marie stroking her hair soothingly. Sumeragi saw all of the crew members as her family, but most of all the youngest, Setsuna. She thought back to how small the 13 year old Setsuna looked when he first arrived on the Ptolemaios. Once she arrived at the medical bay she found a very somber looking Sanji peering in the window of the bay and a tired looking Lockon sitting next to an occupied cell regenerator tank. He looked up as she entered, "You should get some rest I will look after him for a bit." Lockon glanced around and took one last look at the sleeping boy and nodded, "maybe you're right, let me know if he wakes up. I'd like to ask him a few questions." He stood up and left motioning for Sanji to join him as he passed. Sumeragi watched the two until she was sure they were gone and finally looked down at the youngest member of her crew. He looked so frail lying on the large table. She watched as the large wound in his shoulder very slowly started to close, it would still take hours before it would close completely and possibly days before he woke up with nothing but another scar. She let the tears come as she wished for nothing more than the conflict to end. Sumeragi sat and cried for what seemed like hours; before she realized it, she was waking up to the sound of movement close to her. She picked her head up off the table, cursing herself for falling asleep and noticed the source of the noise was Setsuna. He was tossing his head from side to side and sweating. His breath was fast and shallow. Sumeragi quickly grabbed the oxygen mask and ran to the communication node to call for Ian. "Ian you better get in here, something is wrong with Setsuna." Within seconds Ian was there with Sanji close behind him. "We were just fixing up the 00 Raiser, what's wrong." He said as he came to her side next to the tank. "He's got a fever and his not breathing too fast." Ian ran to a nearby cabinet and grabbed a long syringe filled with a clear liquid, just as Setsuna's eyes fluttered open. His eyes went wide as he looked around franticly, unaware of where he was. His fevered eyes fell upon Ian with the syringe in his hand, he tried to move away but fell back as pain shot through him. He took a deep breath and cried out as he tried again to push himself off the bed and move away for his perceived attackers. Sanji saw what was happening and moved to help restrain the delusional Setsuna, just as Lockon and Halleluiah had shown up. They had heard Setsuna's cry and ran to help. Setsuna had managed to push himself off of the table and came crashing to the floor, his vision dimmed as the pain almost consumed him, but he was still able to sit and scramble backwards toward the far end of the medical bay. With his hand on his shoulder he yelled out in a language that none of them understood. Lockon and Halleluiah grabbed his torso and pinned him done as Sanji grabbed his legs. Setsuna's back arched as he fought to get away. He managed to free his good arm and ended up elbowing Halleluiah in the face before he was restrained once again. "Hurry up Ian, he may be small, but he is a lot stronger than he looks," whined Halleluiah as his cheek had begun to swell. Ian knelt down and pressed the needle into Setsuna's arm and within a few seconds Setsuna's muscles began to relax as he lost consciousness yet again. "That should do it. Put him back up on the table. He should be fine for a few hours now." They did as they were told and left with worry across all their faces. Sumeragi left Lockon to watch Setsuna while she began planning their next intervention at the African tower. The next morning Setsuna woke up with no memory of what had happened the night before. Lockon was asleep in the chair next to him. He winced as he sat up, most of the pain would go away in a few days, but he did not have a few days, he had to be ready to fight with his Gundam and end the conflict. Remembering the resolution he had come to at the end of his last battle, he dressed silently and left Lockon to wake up on his own and went to see how the 00 Raiser was.


End file.
